Time to track firearms with a federal passport, of sorts

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It is time for the US Department of Justice, through the licensing authority of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, to issue a federal firearms identification card that would be required to purchase any firearm.

A federally issued passport doesn’t infringe on a citizen’s constitutional rights, and neither would a federally issued firearms identification card. US citizens do not need a passport if they aren’t going to travel outside of the United States, and nobody would need a federal firearms ID if they aren’t going to purchase or own a firearm.

Using a national vetting mechanism to overlay individual states’ rules for gun purchases makes perfect sense because it would streamline the process, relieve firearms dealers from more onerous record-keeping, provide a way to link every firearm with an individual owner, and establish a chain of possession, procession for every weapon.

I believe that, in time, registering a firearm could be a simpler process than running a credit card or using an ATM.